Albany County jail privatizes its food service

﻿﻿﻿﻿COLONIE — A new menu is coming to the Albany County jail, but it’s all about cost, not flavor.

Food service at the Albany County jail has undergone cost-cutting changes this year. First, the facility joined the state prison system program, but costs were still too high, Sheriff James Campbell said.

In January, the jail’s kitchen will be under private management, a move that could save the county at least $700,000 a year, officials said.

Aramark provided Albany County with a month’s menu that lists six or seven items for each of the three meals, including a beverage and dessert for lunch and dinner. The food items total $2.89 a day.
BREAKFAST SAMPLE

23 Responses

Not a bad menu for a jail, especially for $2.89 a day. To that democrat who said county employees can do it cheaper…they had that chance, and twice failed at it. County employees are still running the kitchen, it’s just the management that changed. Good job to the sheriff.

Retiring from a system with an average daily inmate population of over 4000 inmates, our Department went in house after looking at all the other options. For 40 years they had County Employee’s doing all the Cooking but as budgets tightened and the cost of Food went higher and Unions got greedier,something had to be done. You want to know how to run a County Operation..Contact Louise Matthews with the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department..This lady knows what it is all about and how to do it..She is a Miracle Worker and not only does her Kitchen prepare meals just for the Jail, but for Juvenile Hall, and a number of Senior Programs and for the years I was there, she came in at or under Budget, I know something strange and foreign for New York and Albany..I’ve had no contact with or experience with ARA but have heard at seminars I attended from people in other Departments that they tend to bid low and then later need help or next year once they have you hooked inch up the price..Which most businesses doing business with any Government entity seems to do as a matter of business..

Inmates are entitled to eat good food. I don’t see how Aramark is going to be able to adequately accommodate special diets based on medical needs for that price. Large-scale food prep can be somewhat grueling. Did I read they will are/were represented by CSEA? Yikes!!!!! Employees owned by CSEA preparing my food???? No way.

Sounds exactly like my school lunch menu of the 80′s. Do convicts deserve food on par with children?

If they were serious on saving money, the menu would consist of beans, rice, and cheap greens. Don’t feed them too well, and they’ll be easier to control. Save us millions of dollars, and maybe a few lives.

I am sure plenty of people will say “They are in Jail, the should be fed bread and water,..etc etc”….bottom line is the Sheriff and his staff are doing what needs to be done in tough times to help the overall County budget. Leg. Bullock comes out and says “I think the County people cna do it cheaper”…how? Its really easy to see on the high horse and say “I can do it better”,…but unless you actually have a plan,…

Seems to me the Sheriff and his boys have a plan, and it appears it will work, and it will for the next three years at least.

Now if perhaps we could get them the figure out a plan for the Ann Lee home,…

My son is incarcerated in the Albany County Jail and claims he is starving and not getting enough to eat. He is 5’8″ and weighs about 120 lbs. I am an RN and the food listed is high in fat. People who make mistakes, but they are still people with needs.
I challenge you to post this honest comment, not just the pro-county comments.

I’ve worked in four state prisons and four county jails, including Albany co. Prison food is unhealthy and inadequate. I don’t believe it should be great food, but what is given out, and I’ve seen plenty, is usually horrible.

I hope this new food plan helps, but again, choosing the lowest bid when it comes to providing food is not always the best idea as teh food is usually of an much inferior quality.

Hey, Times Union, here’s a story idea, have a reporter eat the new Albany County Jail prison diet for 30 days and report on the findings at the end of a month….

If this was for a school, naturally I’d be more concerned about fat, calories, and nutrition. As it is, it sounds like an incredibly great job done to save waste. The menu is average and 3 meals a day is plenty. Cheap foods are higher in fat, but that’s what a lot of people have had to eat lately with the recession.
There doesn’t seem to be any fruit, which is a shame, but it is very expensive. Perhaps they could organize a prison “farm” with fruit tree and vegetables. I’m sure the inmates would want to participate in something like that and it would provide “free” fruit, which they can also preserve for the Winter.

All of the people who are complaining about how “well” these inmates eat then should not vote for the people who make up the rules and regulations as to what what the Dietery plan for inmates is to be..and you just finished voting all these same people back into office…So, just like complaining about taxes. Just because we the people are being Punished for the financial incompetency of our elected officals the public continues to elect them or their twins right back into office again…So no one should ever complain about how high taxes are…you gave them permission to punish you for their screw ups by re-electing them…or the same Poltical Party..

Ya know, this is an interesting topic. I had an arrest the other night for a low misdemeanor (non-violent). The defendant said to the judge and I quote. “I do not want bail, I want to go to ACJ because they will feed me there and I will get a bed.” It does make you wonder how well these inmates have it compared to life on the streets. Moreover, doesn’t one think the streets and your freedom would be better than jail?